from the press

Julius Ocwinyo, author of Fate of the Banished says nothing really prompted him to start writing. He talked to Joshua Masinde about his family, literary work and role models
Julius Ocwinyo can pass for an ordinary bloke, until you get to know he is the author of Fate of the Banished, a high school set book, and other novels. He is a 48-year-old, seemingly quiet man, who admits having led a happy childhood and loved occasional fights with his childhood friends.
His father, Kelemente Ochen, worked in the Prisons Service in different parts of the country. In 1961, while Ochen was still stationed in Masaka District, Ocwinyo was born. While growing up, he not only had the privilege of living in Masaka but he also lived in Lira, Gulu, Adjumani, Mutukula and Kampala.
Living in different parts of the country exposed Ocwinyo to various cultures quite early. Such exposure gave him an opportunity to appreciate them. This enabled him to speak Acholi first, and not Lango, his mother tongue.
“Fate of the Banished itself is not about Lango but different parts of the country,” Ocwinyo pointed out. Such rich diversity in terms of thematic concerns and messages portrayed in Fate of the Banished is what contributed to its consideration as an A-level set book last year. For this opportunity, he has reason to smile. So far, it remains one of his biggest achievements, though more challenging situations keep coming up.
As a writer, the monetary value gained from the sale of his books is relative. The 10 per cent royalty the author receives from such sales isn’t all that handsome. But, the sales of Fate of the Banished have increased, something for which he’s grateful. Other cases like invitations to important events or occasions like writer-in-residence and book fairs and to attend conferences of international organisations like Unesco and Unicef present a good opportunity in terms of monetary gain. He was a writer-in-residence in Cumbria in Northern England for two weeks in 2003.
“The sponsors were British Council and Cumbria Arts Council.” His father wasn’t highly educated because education was not highly encouraged then. He passed away in 1994 aged about 70 years.
“He was still very fit,” Ocwinyo says fondly of him. His mother, who is a housewife, is in her 70s. Ocwinyo is a family man, with one wife and four children, three of whom are boys. He lives in Kisaasi.
“Writing is easy,” so said one writer. It is as easy as getting a blank piece of paper and gazing at it until droplets of blood form on your forehead. Regardless of that, nothing really prompted Ocwinyo to start writing. “I just found myself writing,” he remarked, after a brief reflection.
“My first book was a play called Tangled Strings.” He wrote it in 1986, though it is still unpublished. Before that, he wrote poems. Some of them were published in the Uganda Poetry Anthology in 2000. He wrote Fate of the Banished in 1993. It took him the months of November and December to complete writing it.
He still prefers to write by hand rather than using a typewriter or computer, especially when writing creative works. However, apart from writing poems and novels, he does not fancy writing the short story.
“I wrote only one but it wasn’t published,” Ocwinyo remarked, adding that he can’t recall the title. Why can’t he publish them now that he is not only a celebrated writer but also a book editor with Fountain Publishers? He thinks otherwise. To him, it does not make a difference whether or not they are published.
At his Fountain Publishers’ office, located at Makerere University, his work mostly involves editing textbooks and creative works for both children and adults and from primary school to university. He also executes a lot of administrative work like soliciting books from authors. Because of his tight schedule, he does not edit a lot of creative works.
For a man whose values rotate around hard work and honesty, his role models are as diverse. He considers Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Albert Camus, William Faulkner and Jean Paul Sartre as his literary role models. Nelson Mandela is his other role model, considering his integrity and perseverance during the apartheid era in South Africa.
Ocwinyo, who likes being quiet, travels to his rural home in Teboke once or twice a year, because of the distance and his busy schedule. He enjoys photography although, “I don’t have a camera yet,” and “walking… a lot of walking. That is why I am so trim,” he observes.
Occasionally, he takes some time off, especially on Sunday afternoons to walk from Kisaasi to Kiwatule, along the Northern By-pass and back.
Apart from Fate of the Banished (1997), Ocwyino has also published The Unfulfilled Dream (2002), and Footprints of the Outsider (2000). Born in Teboke village in Apac District, Ocwyino studied at Aboke Junior Seminary and Lango College.
He later joined the Institute of Teachers Education, Kyambogo, where he earned a Diploma in Education. Later, he went to Makerere University, where he received a Bachelor of Education Degree. He taught at various educational institutions before becoming an editor for Fountain Publishers, Kampala.